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Squeeze Play
Squeeze Play is a pricing game played for a 4-digit prize (sometimes a 5-digit prize). Gameplay *The contestant is faced with a set of five numbers, one of which doesn't belong in the actual retail price of the prize and must be removed from the group. The contestant cannot remove the first & last numbers, for they are the right numbers and in the correct positions. Once a number has been taken out, the remaining numbers squeeze together. If it's the correct price, the contestant wins. *Occasionally, cars or other prizes worth more than $10,000 would be played for; when that happens there would be six digits instead of five to look at, giving the contestant a choice of the middle four instead of three. History and behind the scenes *Squeeze Play has not always been played on the Turntable; until May 27, 1982, it was played on the stage and was concealed by the Giant Price Tag. On March 1, 2001, the board's color scheme changed from blue to gray, the white lines changed to gold and the black outline was added to the Squeeze Play logo. On the 44th season premiere, September 21, 2015, the game was played on stage again behind the Giant Price Tag and was repainted to its original color scheme, although it kept its logo from 2001. On the "Best of 2015" special on December 31, 2015, it was played near Contestant's Row. *The sound effect for the numbers squeezing together is the same one heard when the safe is opened and closed in Safe Crackers. *Squeeze Play has been fraught with mechanical problems throughout its history. Numbers have been stuck and misaligned, the "squeeze" has failed to operate promptly, and the door that opens the reveal has malfunctioned several times, usually resulting in Bob Barker kicking it. One memorable playing from February 27, 1980 had Bob having trouble taking out the 2 and once he yanked it out, the remaining numbers were shifted before they could squeeze together, and once done, the 9 was tilted and Bob tried to hit the 9 and then kick the numbers; another from January 16, 1995 had the reveal stuck as Bob pushed the button to reveal the price; he kicked the door and then pushed the button again, which not only caused the door to open to reveal the price, but also the price to fall to the floor. On May 10, 1989, the remaining four numbers even failed to squeeze together and Bob had to squeeze them manually by hand, and on June 3, 1992, the reveal also failed to open but instead of kicking it, he also opened the door manually by hand. *On April 1, 2011, as an April Fool's joke, the four numbers failed to squeeze together again, causing Drew Carey to squeeze them by hand. *On April 7, 2015 (aired out of order on March 3), Drew forgot to press the button on the left; the stagehand in the back got tickled as he also took out some numbers after they were squeezed together. Trivia *The most number of times this game was played in any season was 57. Pictures Squeeze Play 1.jpg|Here's Squeeze Play, played on stage. Squeeze Play 2a.jpg|Here's Squeeze Play played on the Turntable Squeeze Play 2b.jpg|...and a win to boot! Sqeeze Play 20th Anniversary (1).jpg|Here's another playing from the 20th anniversary premiere week... Sqeeze Play 20th Anniversary (2).jpg|...and another win to boot! Squeeze Play 3a.jpg|Here's another playing from 1996... Squeeze Play 3b.jpg|...and yet another win to boot! Squeeze Play 4a.jpg|This is what Squeeze Play looks like these days (2001-2015). Squeeze Play 4b.jpg|Whenever there's a prize with five digits in the price, we see six numbers instead of five. Squeeze Play (70s Edition) 1.jpg|In the 44th season premiere during decades week (the show celebrated the 70s that day), Squeeze Play was once again played at center stage and it was repainted blue. Squeeze Play (70s Edition) 2.jpg|Still another win to boot. Squeeze Play (70s Edition) 3.jpg squeezeplaycontestantsrow1.jpg|Squeeze Play in front of the contestant's row, as part of the Best of 2015 special. squeezeplaycontestantsrow2.jpg squeezeplay2016-1.jpg squeezeplay2016-2.jpg International versions *On the Mexican version, it was called "El Apretón", translated to "The Pressure". Rules were the same as the American version. *On the 1980s UK version hosted by Leslie Crowther, as well as the Dutch version, it was played for a three-digit prize. Five numbers were shown, and thus the contestant had to take out two numbers to make a three-digit price. YouTube Videos Squeeze Play's Premiere Close Call win of Squeeze Play (January 9, 2004) Category:Pricing Games Category:Active Games Category:1-Prize Games Category:1970s Pricing Games Category:A Choice of 3 Category:A Choice of 4 Category:The Prices Must Match to Win Category:Home Base Pricing Games Category:Multiple Choice Games Category:Primetime Pricing Games Category:Predict the Correct Price Category:Short Play Category:Easy Winning Pricing Games Category:"S" Pricing Games Category:2-Word Pricing Games